The conventional wisdom among the attorneys and CPAs who plan for estate taxes, right up until the new Fiscal Cliff legislation was signed into law, was that the $5 million exemption was probably too good to be true.  Couples could gift up to $10 million to their heirs without paying any gift taxes, and if [...]

On January 2, 2013 President Obama signed into law The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012.  This was robust legislation, in some ways temporarily and in other ways “permanently” addressing various tax issues.  The following is a summary of some highlights of the 59 page bill that might affect you. This will be followed in [...]

For small and large business owners alike, clarity was brought to several areas of taxation that have been in limbo.  The following is a summary of the highlights. The payroll tax holiday for the Social Security tax was allowed to expire. Consequently, the employee-share of OASDI taxes reverts back to 6.2% (from 4.2%); 50% first-year [...]

For estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax purposes, for individuals dying and gifts made after 2012, there is a $5 million exemption (adjusted for inflation). The top estate, gift and GST rate was increased from 35% to 40%; The 2010 Tax Relief Act introduced the “portability” rules into the federal estate transfer tax system. Under the portability rules, [...]

Mark Berg was recently quoted in a November 21 article in U.S. News & World Report. The article discusses how to maximize the federal tax benefits of 529 plans by 1) scheduling regular contributions 2) combining federal tax benefits with state tax deductions 3) not limiting investments during poor stock market years and lastly 4) [...]

For 2012, the federal income tax rate on long-term capital gains and qualified dividends is 0% for taxpayers in the 10% to 15% federal income tax rate brackets.  This applies to you if your taxable income (including long-term capital gains and qualified dividends) does not exceed $70,700 if you are married and filing jointly ($35,350 [...]

In this age of ever-expanding technology, the data-gathering process for a financial plan has gradually become less complicated and intrusive.  Computers can now pull the latest values of your 401(k) plan and bank account balances into various evaluative software programs, and update them automatically.  We can model future returns on a variety of different portfolio [...]

For people of a certain age, who remember taking out a home mortgage at or above 15%, the astonishingly low rates that banks are charging today are a little hard to believe. Mortgage rates have been historically low for years, and they have been trending lower ever since the bottom fell out of the real [...]

 “Take My Stuff. Please.” is an interesting article in Advisor Perspectives magazine that talks about how investors can “clutter” their portfolios like objects in their home. The author, Mariko Gordon, believes people tend to hold onto investments based on various factors, such as how they feel, instead of deciding if the investment is truly useful [...]

After the Supreme Court ruling upholding the recent Health Care Act, everybody is required to buy health insurance.  Or are they? People who earn less than $9,500 are exempt from the requirement; above those income levels, you would have to pay a tax that depends on your income level.  There is a phase-in of rates [...]